Numbers drawn in record Mega Millions jackpot

By Cindy George |
December 17, 2013
| Updated: December 17, 2013 10:23pm

Customers line up outside Rudy's Stop and Shop so they can purchase their Mega Millions tickets on Tuesday in Rosenberg. The store is number one in sales and winning lotto tickets in the state of Texas. Tonight's estimated Mega Millions jackpot is $636 million.

Photo By J. Patric Schneider/For the Chronicle

Customers at Rudy's Stop and Shop

Photo By J. Patric Schneider/For the Chronicle

Donna Segura fills out her Mega Millions ticket in Rosenberg on Tuesday.

Photo By Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle

Cody Le scans an entry ticket for the Mega Millions at Super K Food Store in Houston on Friday.

The three anonymous winners of the Maryland portion of the Mega Millions, joined by a state lottery worker, show off their winnings in Baltimore.

Photo By Johnny Hanson/Chronicle

4. $590.5 million, Powerball, May 18, 2013 (1 ticket from Florida)

Radhika Kharel's shift Friday at Paradise Cards & Gifts in the downtown Houston tunnel system was busy with Powerball sales. No Texan won the big prize, but one million-dollar ticket (matching five numbers) was sold in Boerne.

Larry and Nancy Ross of Shelby Township, Mich., pose with their presentation check of $181.5 million as one of two winners of the Big Game lottery during a news conference Friday, May 12, 2000, in Lansing, Mich.

Pedro Quezada, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, holds up a promotional check during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quezada, 44, won the jackpot with the winning ticket he purchased at Eagle Liquors store in Passaic, N.J.

Photo By Al Goldis

12. $337.0 million, Powerball, Aug. 15, 2012 (1 ticket from Michigan)

Donald Lawson, left, a 44-year-old Lapeer, Mich. resident, holds his ceremonial check with Michigan Lottery Commissioner M. Scott Bowen at a news conference in which he claimed the Powerball prize Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, at the Michigan Lottery headquarters in Lansing, Mich. Lawson elected the lump sum option of $224.6 million before state and federal taxes.

Update: The Mega Millions numbers have been drawn. They are 8-14-17-20-39, Mega Ball 7 and Megaplier 4

Previous report:

Finger-crossed lottery players hoping, wishing and praying to win an estimated $636 million Mega Millions jackpot have boosted sales in Texas, which had hit $25 million by 9 p.m. for Tuesday's drawing.

The winning numbers — a one-out-of-259 million combination — were selected at 10 p.m. Houston time. A Mega Millions ticket is $1.

Daisy Salinas had a baby four months ago after years of trying unsuccessfully and thought she might extend her winning streak by buying a single lottery ticket after work on Tuesday at gas station on Washington Avenue in Houston.

"Sometimes, luck might strike. I just had a son and that was a miracle, so this might be a miracle too," the 24-year-old said, adding that the numbers she chose were "special dates that are important to me."

The multi-state jackpot is the second largest in American history. To receive $636 million (minus taxes), the winnings would be paid out over 30 years. The cash option prize - a one-time, lump sum payment - is estimated at $341 million.

The big prize has been increasing since it was hit for $190 million on Oct. 1. Since then, there have been 21 draws with no winner - the longest roll ever for Mega Millions.

An October change switched the game from five out of 56 numbers plus one out of 46 to five out of 75 numbers plus one out of 15. The minimum jackpot jumped to $15 million.

Lotteries advertised the new rules as "a matrix change designed to create bigger jackpots, second-tier prizes of up to $5 million with the Megaplier feature, and better overall odds."

In an email late Tuesday, Texas Lottery Commission spokeswoman Kelly Cripe explained that: "it was clear that players enjoy large jackpots that build quickly and more overall opportunities at winning prizes and the new game structure provides both."

But Dawn Nettles, publisher of The Lotto Report online newsletter (lottoreport.com) and longtime watchdog of the Texas Lottery Commission, said the new Mega Millions odds has made the game one "that you can't win."

She anticipates the game will sell 330 million tickets, but with duplicates, all of the combinations still won't be covered.

"The money is coming from poor folks who are desperate and dreaming ... Santa Claus is not going to come to many homes because of this," said Nettles, who lives in the Dallas area and bought four tickets in Tuesday's drawing. "If it is your destiny to win, then you only have to have one ticket."

Mohammad Arshad, a 28-year-old limo driver, said he played Tuesday "just because it was big."

He let the computer choose his numbers even though he believes people who pick their own have better chances at hitting the jackpot.

"Nobody's going to win this time. I know. Not the big jackpot. You'll see," he said.

Dustin James, a 31-year-old wood-carving artist, said he noticed "ladybugs everywhere," which gave him extra encouragement to pick up a few tickets.

"I'm feeling lucky because the money is so high," he said.

The Texas Lottery Commission on Tuesday touted "strong sales" as the reason the current jackpot was pushed from a previous $586 million estimate.

"Nationally, the game is selling approximately 500,000 tickets per minute at peak times," according to Cripe.

If no one hits tonight, the jackpot would increase to an estimated $950 million drawing on Friday.

"If the jackpot gets to $1 billion, our billboards do not even go that high," Cripe added.

While Mega Millions mania may be in full effect when potential winnings passed the half-billion mark, lottery interest in Texas has waned in recent years.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Lone Star lottery participation was around 70 percent and hasn't broken 50 percent since 2005, according to the Texas Lottery Commission's annual demographic survey of lottery players. The latest report, conducted by the University of Houston's Hobby Center for Public Policy, was released in November. Center director Jim Granato, who testified about the findings last week before the commission, said a decade of decline in lottery participation has leveled off to just shy of 40 percent.

In the latest survey, which asked about purchases in 2012, the average monthly expenditure increased by $5 to $44. The Houston Southwest District, which includes Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, Matagorda and Wharton counties as well as part of the western part of Harris, posted the highest percentage increase in participation. The region has been a historically strong area for monthly amount spent per player.

Mega Millions is the third most popular game among Texas players. Among those surveyed, 59 percent of past-year lottery players had purchased a ticket in the game and spent, on average, $6.11 per play. (In non-jackpot games, players can use a Megaplier feature to increase prizes by 2, 3, 4 or 5 times, which costs an additional $1 per play.)

Mega Millions, the nation's most widely played multi-state jackpot game, has been operating since 1996. Texas joined the game in 2003. It is now played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Of the 10 largest Mega Millions jackpots, which ranged from $270 million to a record-breaking $656 million and included 18 winning tickets, the Lone Star state had just one big win.